Stephanie Solt
Biographic Data
| ID | 738074 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Stephanie Solt |
| GIVEN NAMES | Stephanie |
| FAMILY NAME | Solt |
| SIGNATURE | SOLT S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3269-8461 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 13 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Context, precision, and social perception: A sociopragmatic study
In two perception experiments we explore the social indexicality of numerical expressions, comparing the evaluation of three variants: precise (e.g. 'forty-nine minutes') vs. explicitly approximate (e.g. 'about fifty minutes') vs. underspecified (e.g. 'fifty minutes'). We ask two questions: (i) What constellations of social meanings are associated with each of these variants? (ii) How are such indexical associations modulated by the conversationa…
Comparison via eher
This paper is about the semantics of the German adverb eher, which has three, or perhaps four, readings: temporal, epistemic, metalinguistic and—depending on whether it is accepted as a genuine reading—preference. In its epistemic reading, eher gained prominence in semantics because it was used by Kratzer (1981) to argue that the notion of possibility is gradable. Eher has also received attention from a diachronic perspective, where it has been c…
Certainly but not certain: The expression of subjective and objective probability
This paper investigates the interpretation of the epistemic modal adjectives possible, certain and their adverbial counterparts possibly, certainly, taking the perspective that the former express objective modality, whereas the latter express subjective modality. In support of this view, we report on two experiments that assess speakers’ acceptance of possible, certain, possibly, certainly in different contexts. Our results extend those of Lassit…
Modeling (im)precision in context
Speakers’ choice between linguistic alternatives often depends on the situation, a prime example involving level of precision at which numerical information is communicated. We report on a production study in which participants report the time of an event in two different situations, and demonstrate that the results can be reproduced by a probabilistic game-theoretical model in which the speaker’s choice reflects a tradeoff between informativity,…
Adjective Meaning and Scales
The topics of adjective meaning and scalarity offer a prime example of the benefits of experimental research in formal semantics. This chapter presents a series of case studies illustrating how experimental approaches have been productively applied at various stages in the process of developing and evaluating theories of scalar meaning: (i) to support introspectively sourced judgements on which formal theories are based; (ii) to generate theoreti…
Antonym adjective pairs and prosodic iconicity: Evidence from letter replications in an English blogger corpus
While the general assumption has long been that natural languages exhibit an arbitrary pairing of form and meaning, there is increasing empirical evidence that iconicity in language is not uncommon. One example from spoken language involves iconic prosodic modulation, i.e. the changing of prosodic features such as duration and fundamental frequency to express meanings such as size and speed. In this paper, we use data from an English social media…
On measurement and quantification: The case of most and more than half
The quantifiers most and more than half pose a challenge to formal semantic analysis. On the one hand, their meanings seem essentially the same, prompting accounts that treat them as logically equivalent. On the other hand, their behavior diverges in a number of interesting ways. This article draws attention to some previously unnoticed contrasts between the two and develops a novel semantic analysis of them, based on principles of measurement th…
Q-Adjectives and the Semantics of Quantity
The adjectives of quantity (Q-adjectives) many, few, much and little stand out from other quantity expressions on account of their syntactic flexibility, occurring in positions that could be called quantificational (many students attended), predicative (John's friends were many), attributive (the many students), differential (much more than a liter) and adverbial (slept too much). This broad distribution poses a challenge for the two leading theo…
Vagueness and Imprecision: Empirical Foundations
Vagueness is a pervasive feature of natural language, which has been studied from a range of perspectives. This review focuses on recent empirical insights into vagueness that have come out of the field of linguistic semantics, as well as the theoretical developments that these have prompted. Topics covered include the distinction between vagueness and imprecision, or what I refer to as Type 1 and Type 2 vagueness; the complex manifestations of v…
Measurement Scales in Natural Language
The meaning of a wide variety of natural language expressions can be stated in terms of degrees on scales. This paper provides an overview of the contribution of scales to linguistic meaning. I discuss the ontology of scales, survey the role of scalarity within and across languages, and summarize recent research into the linguistically relevant features of scales, organizing these findings into a preliminary framework for a comprehensive model of…
Abstract categories or limited-scope formulae? The case of children's determiners
Six tests of the spontaneous speech of twenty-one English-speaking children (1 ; 10 to 2 ; 8; MLUs 1·53 to 4·38) demonstrate the presence of the syntactic category determiner from the start of combinatorial speech, supporting nativist accounts. Children use multiple determiners before a noun to the same extent as their mothers (1) when only a and the or (2) all determiners are analyzed, or (3) when children and mothers are matched on determiner a…
Why "a few" and why not *"a many"
The expressions few and a few are typically considered to be separate quantifiers. I challenge this assumption, showing that with the appropriate definition of few, a few can be derived compositionally as a + few. The core of the analysis is a proposal that few has a denotation as a one-place predicate which incorporates a negation operator. From this, argument interpretations can be derived for expressions such as few students and a few students…
Vagueness and Imprecision: Empirical Foundations
Vagueness is a pervasive feature of natural language, which has been studied from a range of perspectives. This review focuses on recent empirical insights into vagueness that have come out of the field of linguistic semantics, as well as the theoretical developments that these have prompted. Topics covered include the distinction between vagueness and imprecision, or what I refer to as Type 1 and Type 2 vagueness; the complex manifestations of v…
Measurement Scales in Natural Language
The meaning of a wide variety of natural language expressions can be stated in terms of degrees on scales. This paper provides an overview of the contribution of scales to linguistic meaning. I discuss the ontology of scales, survey the role of scalarity within and across languages, and summarize recent research into the linguistically relevant features of scales, organizing these findings into a preliminary framework for a comprehensive model of…
Context, precision, and social perception: A sociopragmatic study
In two perception experiments we explore the social indexicality of numerical expressions, comparing the evaluation of three variants: precise (e.g. 'forty-nine minutes') vs. explicitly approximate (e.g. 'about fifty minutes') vs. underspecified (e.g. 'fifty minutes'). We ask two questions: (i) What constellations of social meanings are associated with each of these variants? (ii) How are such indexical associations modulated by the conversationa…
On measurement and quantification: The case of most and more than half
The quantifiers most and more than half pose a challenge to formal semantic analysis. On the one hand, their meanings seem essentially the same, prompting accounts that treat them as logically equivalent. On the other hand, their behavior diverges in a number of interesting ways. This article draws attention to some previously unnoticed contrasts between the two and develops a novel semantic analysis of them, based on principles of measurement th…
Why "a few" and why not *"a many"
The expressions few and a few are typically considered to be separate quantifiers. I challenge this assumption, showing that with the appropriate definition of few, a few can be derived compositionally as a + few. The core of the analysis is a proposal that few has a denotation as a one-place predicate which incorporates a negation operator. From this, argument interpretations can be derived for expressions such as few students and a few students…
Abstract categories or limited-scope formulae? The case of children's determiners
Six tests of the spontaneous speech of twenty-one English-speaking children (1 ; 10 to 2 ; 8; MLUs 1·53 to 4·38) demonstrate the presence of the syntactic category determiner from the start of combinatorial speech, supporting nativist accounts. Children use multiple determiners before a noun to the same extent as their mothers (1) when only a and the or (2) all determiners are analyzed, or (3) when children and mothers are matched on determiner a…
Q-Adjectives and the Semantics of Quantity
The adjectives of quantity (Q-adjectives) many, few, much and little stand out from other quantity expressions on account of their syntactic flexibility, occurring in positions that could be called quantificational (many students attended), predicative (John's friends were many), attributive (the many students), differential (much more than a liter) and adverbial (slept too much). This broad distribution poses a challenge for the two leading theo…
Vagueness and Imprecision: Empirical Foundations
Vagueness is a pervasive feature of natural language, which has been studied from a range of perspectives. This review focuses on recent empirical insights into vagueness that have come out of the field of linguistic semantics, as well as the theoretical developments that these have prompted. Topics covered include the distinction between vagueness and imprecision, or what I refer to as Type 1 and Type 2 vagueness; the complex manifestations of v…
Measurement Scales in Natural Language
The meaning of a wide variety of natural language expressions can be stated in terms of degrees on scales. This paper provides an overview of the contribution of scales to linguistic meaning. I discuss the ontology of scales, survey the role of scalarity within and across languages, and summarize recent research into the linguistically relevant features of scales, organizing these findings into a preliminary framework for a comprehensive model of…
On measurement and quantification: The case of most and more than half
The quantifiers most and more than half pose a challenge to formal semantic analysis. On the one hand, their meanings seem essentially the same, prompting accounts that treat them as logically equivalent. On the other hand, their behavior diverges in a number of interesting ways. This article draws attention to some previously unnoticed contrasts between the two and develops a novel semantic analysis of them, based on principles of measurement th…
Adjective Meaning and Scales
The topics of adjective meaning and scalarity offer a prime example of the benefits of experimental research in formal semantics. This chapter presents a series of case studies illustrating how experimental approaches have been productively applied at various stages in the process of developing and evaluating theories of scalar meaning: (i) to support introspectively sourced judgements on which formal theories are based; (ii) to generate theoreti…
Antonym adjective pairs and prosodic iconicity: Evidence from letter replications in an English blogger corpus
While the general assumption has long been that natural languages exhibit an arbitrary pairing of form and meaning, there is increasing empirical evidence that iconicity in language is not uncommon. One example from spoken language involves iconic prosodic modulation, i.e. the changing of prosodic features such as duration and fundamental frequency to express meanings such as size and speed. In this paper, we use data from an English social media…
Comparison via eher
This paper is about the semantics of the German adverb eher, which has three, or perhaps four, readings: temporal, epistemic, metalinguistic and—depending on whether it is accepted as a genuine reading—preference. In its epistemic reading, eher gained prominence in semantics because it was used by Kratzer (1981) to argue that the notion of possibility is gradable. Eher has also received attention from a diachronic perspective, where it has been c…
Certainly but not certain: The expression of subjective and objective probability
This paper investigates the interpretation of the epistemic modal adjectives possible, certain and their adverbial counterparts possibly, certainly, taking the perspective that the former express objective modality, whereas the latter express subjective modality. In support of this view, we report on two experiments that assess speakers’ acceptance of possible, certain, possibly, certainly in different contexts. Our results extend those of Lassit…
Modeling (im)precision in context
Speakers’ choice between linguistic alternatives often depends on the situation, a prime example involving level of precision at which numerical information is communicated. We report on a production study in which participants report the time of an event in two different situations, and demonstrate that the results can be reproduced by a probabilistic game-theoretical model in which the speaker’s choice reflects a tradeoff between informativity,…
Context, precision, and social perception: A sociopragmatic study
In two perception experiments we explore the social indexicality of numerical expressions, comparing the evaluation of three variants: precise (e.g. 'forty-nine minutes') vs. explicitly approximate (e.g. 'about fifty minutes') vs. underspecified (e.g. 'fifty minutes'). We ask two questions: (i) What constellations of social meanings are associated with each of these variants? (ii) How are such indexical associations modulated by the conversationa…
Computer Science (11 works) · Linguistics (10 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (6 works) · Linguistics and Discourse Analysis (5 works) · Mathematics (5 works) · Artificial Intelligence (4 works) · Artificial Intelligence (4 works) · Natural language processing (4 works)